Hebrew word · H6320

פּוּךְ

fukh

color

Stibnite or antimony, ground into a black powder and used as eye-paint (kohl). In 1 Chronicles 29:2 'stones of puk' are among David's materials for the temple, probably dark or glittering stones used for inlay or setting.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

1) antimony, stibium, black paint

1a) eye cosmetic

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 54:11

Range of meaning: Stibnite or antimony, ground into a black powder and used as eye-paint (kohl). In 1 Chronicles 29:2 'stones of puk' are among David's materials for the temple, probably dark or glittering stones used for inlay or setting.
Against the English: KJV/WEB 'fair colours' guesses at decoration in general. YLT 'cement' takes it as mortar. BSB and other modern versions say 'antimony', which is literal but means little to most readers. None of them makes clear the eye-makeup picture that a first hearer would have caught.
How it drifted: This is a case of lost knowledge rather than drift. The rare building sense of puk was already unclear in antiquity: the Greek translation turned it into a gemstone.
Used elsewhere in the period: 2 Kings 9:30 (Jezebel 'put puk on her eyes'); Jeremiah 4:30 (Jerusalem as a woman who 'enlarges her eyes with puk' for lovers). 1 Chronicles 29:2 'stones of puk'. The name of Job's daughter Keren-happuch (Job 42:14) means 'horn (box) of eye-paint', a name suggesting beauty.

From the study of 1 Chronicles 29:2

Range of meaning: Antimony (stibium). This is the dark powder used as eye-paint (kohl), as in 2 Kgs 9:30 (Jezebel 'put puk on her eyes') and Jer 4:30. In Isa 54:11 God promises to set Zion's stones 'in puk', usually understood as dark mortar or cement that makes the stones stand out.
Against the English: The renderings vary widely: KJV 'glistering stones', BSB 'turquoise', ESV 'antimony', WEB 'stones for inlaid work', YLT 'stones of painting'. 'Turquoise' rests on a proposed link with the Egyptian name of a green-blue stone. That link is not certain.
How it drifted: Translators facing a rare word have each supplied a guess. English readers then meet one of them as if it were settled.
Used elsewhere in the period: 2 Kgs 9:30; Jer 4:30; Isa 54:11. The Vulgate here reads 'quasi stibinos' ('as it were antimony-like'), which keeps the antimony sense.

From the study of 2 Kings 9:30

Range of meaning: A dark mineral powder, generally identified as stibnite (antimony sulfide) or galena (lead sulfide), ground fine and applied around the eyes. This is the substance known in Arabic as kohl. By extension the word could mean a dark mortar or setting for stones (Isa 54:11; 1 Chr 29:2, "stones of pukh"), probably because of its colour or texture.
Against the English: KJV "painted her face" broadens a specific eye cosmetic into face-paint. In the 1600s "painted" faces in English carried overtones of vanity and prostitution, overtones the Hebrew word does not carry. Modern versions ("painted her eyes", "put on eye makeup") are accurate.
How it drifted: The KJV's "painted her face" and the English proverbial "painted Jezebel" (attested from the 1600s on) made the cosmetic itself the sign of a loose woman. That is an English moral category laid over a Hebrew word that simply names eyeliner.
Used elsewhere in the period: Eye-paint in the Hebrew Bible appears in Jer 4:30, where personified Jerusalem "enlarges her eyes with pukh" for lovers who will kill her. Ezek 23:40 uses a different verb (kāḥal) for the same act. Job's third daughter is named Keren-happuch, "horn (flask) of eye-paint" (Job 42:14), a name given as part of God's restoration of Job and plainly meant as a compliment to her beauty. Cosmetic kohl tubes, palettes and applicators are common finds from Egypt and the Levant, used by both women and men. The LXX translates with a verb meaning "painted with stibium" (stimmi), and the Vulgate has stibio, "with antimony".

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

2 Kings 9:30 בַּפּ֤וּךְ with <the> eye-paint

Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

Here: "In the eye-paint." A dark mineral powder used to line the eyes. It was common, prized, and worn widely in the ancient Near East. The word names a cosmetic. It carries no moral judgment in itself.

1 Chronicles · 1

1 Chronicles 29:2 פ֣וּךְ antimony

Now with all my ability I have made provision for the house of my God—gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and slabs of marble—all in abundance.

Here: Elsewhere puk is the black antimony eye-paint (kohl) of 2 Kgs 9:30 and Jer 4:30. In Isa 54:11 it is the dark mortar in which a rebuilt Zion's stones are set. Here it probably means dark, glossy stones, or stones set in a dark cement. 'Turquoise' is a guess.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 54:11 בַּפּוּךְ֙ in <the> antimony

“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.

Here: Elsewhere puk is the dark eye-paint women put on (2 Kgs 9:30; Jer 4:30). Here the stones are set 'in puk'. Probably this means dark mortar that sets the stones off the way kohl sets off a woman's eyes, so the city-woman is being made up again. The term is debated (see debates).

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 4:30 בַפּוּךְ֙ with <the> eye-paint

And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

Here: Black mineral eye-paint (kohl, a powder of antimony or lead ore). It is the same word used of Jezebel painting her eyes as her killer approached (2 Kgs 9:30).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.